


His Last Letter

by EmmaKeladry



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Angst, Canon Related, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s02e13-14 Such Sweet Sorrow Parts 1-2, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Missing Scene, Original Character - Freeform, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 19:29:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19774882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaKeladry/pseuds/EmmaKeladry
Summary: Paul’s last letter to his sister after she received the news that Discovery was destroyed.Post episode: Such Sweet Sorrow, part 2. Paul's sister's response to receiving the letter from her brother.





	His Last Letter

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies - this is un-beta'd. Please forgive any mistakes.
> 
> A special thanks for the Discord for coming up with this very angsty topic today and inspiring this short little fic! Enjoy!

She couldn’t read it.

No, it was too painful and raw. Why would she want to read his last words/his letter to her?

Her swollen feet let the cold waves splash her feet, easing some of the ache in them. She didn’t care that the hem of her sundress was getting splashed with salt water, staining the bottom. It didn’t matter. Only three more weeks until her first born son was to arrive. And he wouldn’t be there. She brushed a tear from her cheek and sniffled.

_From: Lieutenant-Commander Paul Stamets_

The words themselves were too painful. It was dated less than a three hours before his ship, Discovery, was reported as destroyed. Gone. The ship that she listened to him complain about for hours and hours, whining that they weren’t creating it to his exact specifications for his new drive or listening to him or that Straal was having better luck with his ship. But Straal was gone too. Her brother. His best friend.

Hugh. He’d been thought lost on a mission, but they found him again. She knew the real story from her brother. Utterly broken and destroyed, Paul grieved long for his partner. She’d listened as he cried on comms and talked about how much he loved him and how much he missed Hugh.

No, she didn’t want to hear Paul’s letter. Her brother. Dead, lost on a mission. That was the end of him. After everything he’d gone through in the last year, he’d died and left her behind. That jerkface.

In a split second, she hit the start button on the letter.

“ _Hey, I know you’re pissed at me_.”

The sound of his voice caused the soft tears to turn to sobs. She had to pause it for a second to compose herself, before starting it again. She had to know now.

“ _I don’t have a lot of time and I don’t know if you’ll even get this letter_.”

It wasn’t until a day after the announcement of Discovery’s loss that Starfleet had contacted her about the letter from Paul. It took over a week for Starfleet to release all the letters to the loved ones of those who perished. She'd waited a day to listen.

“ _You’re my best friend and you always could translate Mom and Dad to me and vice versa. Even though I still don’t know what Dad’s talking about half the time. I know you think I was their favorite…”_ There was a brief pause and Paul laughed. “ _But I’m just louder. They love you so much. They would do anything for you_.”

They would’ve done anything for him too. Paul always said that she was their favorite, but she knew their parents loved them both equally. Even when Paul was the stubborn one, leaving Earth during the war and causing them to worry constantly, they loved him.

She went back and listened to his laugh again. She’d never get to hear that sound again. Her brother laughing. Damn, Paul.

“ _And so I would, but I can’t do this for you. I have to do this for everyone else. But it doesn’t mean that I love you any less. You’re going to be a great mom. And I’m sorry that I won’t be there to watch you get spit-up on or peed on. I’m sorry that I won’t be there to hold my nephew. But I know you’ll tell him stories about me. Please, don’t tell him the one about the pink dress. I know you still have a picture of me wearing it_.”

She smiled at the memory and swore to find that picture again after she finished listening to the letter. Only thirty seconds remained of the message.

“ _I – I have to finish this fabrication and make sure all the parts are perfect_.” There was a pause, eating up precious seconds of his last time of speaking for her. “ _I love you. I’ll always love you. Can I ask you one last favor_?” Another pause. He spoke again, his voice soft and choked up. “ _Hugh’s leaving Discovery to join the Enterprise. If you could, let him know that I loved him to the end. I always did_.”

It wasn’t necessary. Hugh must’ve changed his mind. The news of Paul’s death came the news of Hugh’s death. They were both gone. Maybe they could be together again, wherever their path took them next.

“ _I love you. Tell Mom and Dad that I love them too. Good-bye_.”

As soon as the letter ended, she dissolved in tears. That was it. His last words. The last words her brother would ever speak to her. She listened to the letter several more times, savoring each word he spoke and the unique way he talked. No one could ever replace her brother.

“I love you too, Paul.”


End file.
